NATCHEZ —In 1967 Lamar Braxton was preparing to enter the doctoral program at the University of Southern Mississippi the following year, but Braxton never showed up for class.

He got a better offer.

He had accepted the position of executive director at AJFC Community Action Agency in Natchez in December of 1967, intending to only stay about six months, but now 41 years and seven months later, Braxton is still the executive director.

“At that point the Community Action Agency was a new concept,” Braxton said. “Funding was uncertain, and we only had a 6-month guarantee, so I thought ‘I’ll spend six-months there and move on to graduate school.’”

But that move never happened, not yet at least.

In March, Braxton announced his retirement to the AJFC board of directors and will be stepping down soon. He originally selected July 31 as his last day at AJFC, but without a replacement named, Braxton chose to stay on board just a bit longer.

“I will be here until there is a new person in place,” Braxton said. “The board wants to make sure they take the time to select the best applicant to keep this agency running.”

And whoever is selected — the board of directors received 28 applications from across the southeast — will surely have big shoes to fill. Braxton will leave behind his desk, chair and a legacy of committed service to the people of southwest Mississippi.

Braxton didn’t pick his retirement arbitrarily; he had an agenda. And once that agenda was complete, he decided to move on.

Braxton made a promise eight years ago to get Head Start centers open in four counties and once he knew he was going to accomplish that goal, he announced his retirement.

“In February the contractor told me he would be able to release the center in Fayette to me in March,” Braxton said. “I announced my plans to retire to the board then.”

The Fayette center had its grand opening in April.

AJFC serves seven counties and provides comprehensive social services to assist children, adults and families attain self-sufficiency, function independently and lead productive lives through its Head Start, CSBG, LiHeap and Affordable Housing programs.

It’s the people those programs help that kept Braxton coming to work every day, he said.

Braxton said the summer youth employment program sponsored by AJFC, has helped a generation of people get a leg up.

“I’ll see someone on the street, and they have gone on to be Dr. So-and-so or an accountant or some other job title,” Braxton said. “They’ll say their first job was through AJFC, and it is because of that, they accomplished what they have.”

And as thankful as those people are, Braxton is just as thankful to hear their stories.

“All I can say is ‘thank you for that,” Braxton said. “But it is those success stories that have kept me going every day. I don’t think I would have lasted this long without stories like that.”

The most influential program under the AJFC umbrella is the Head Start program for children, Braxton said, because of the number of people it has the potential to impact.

The Head Start and Early Head Start programs in Adams, Jefferson, Amite and Wilkinson counties enroll over 980 students and employees more than 200 people.

“What we do at Head Start impacts the children in the program and the employees of the program as well as the families at home,” Braxton said. “It is the only program remaining from when I started.”

AJFC’s rich heritage of education and training doesn’t stop when children graduate from Head Start.

In 1986, just four years after Time Magazine named the computer “Man of the Year,” Braxton secured funding to purchase computers and hire staff to train people to operate the computers.

Each summer 40 youth campers, came for a week-long on-campus computer workshop.

“These children in southwest Mississippi were ahead of many children across the nation,” Braxton said.

Those same computer training classes were offered to adults. Braxton remembers one woman who had an accounting degree and was applying for a job at the nuclear plant in Port Gibson.

“They were looking for people who could operate a computer, so she came here and got the training,” he said. “She called back and said ‘Mr. Braxton, I got the job and I’m making $18 an hour.’ That was big money back then.”

But the journey hasn’t been without its struggles. Braxton said funding is always the largest challenge, because without appropriate funding none of the AJFC’s programs can function.

In the beginning, funding was received on a six-month time table, now things are only slightly better with appropriations being made yearly.

But even then it isn’t guaranteed. Twice during Braxton’s tenure funding for the Head Start program has been cut because of a veto from the governor.

Luckily each time Braxton was able to restore funding before the program suffered.

“To get it overridden the first time we had to meet with then-Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in Washington, D.C., to convince him that we deserved the funding,” he said. “If funding wasn’t released to us then, I’m afraid the program would have been lost.”

But through the hard work of Braxton and his employees and a supportive 21-member board of directors, AJFC has become one of the most respected charitable organizations in the state. Braxton said that is mainly because they have been able to maintain a stellar reputation.

“In 41 years many agencies have folded because of either allegations of or reality of mismanagement or scandal,” Braxton said. “What we have done here, we have done without any major negative allegations.”

And it is because of that, that Braxton feels comfortable handing the reigns off.

“We are in the best shape now, financially and otherwise, that we have ever been,” he said. “If there was ever a time for me to retire, it would be now.”